January 07, 2026 | Operational Policing, Investigations and Events , Investigations and Operations
Request Number: FOI/16363
Category: Operational policing, Investigations and Events - Investigations and Operations
Subject: Criminal Damage Prosecution
Request and Answer:
Request 1
The number of manhours expended by PSNI staff processing a typical criminal damage prosecution. These hours should include all administrative, front line and supervisor staff.
Request 2
The cost per manhour, averaged for all departments involved.
Request 3
Should the administrative cost to process this request fall outside of the maximum allowable cost for a F.O.I. request then:
The annual budget for any year between 2020-2025, Newtownards police station, can be divided by the number of prosecutions processed in that same year will be sufficient for my purposes.
Request 4
Should the administrative cost to process this request still fall outside of the maximum allowable cost for a F.O.I. request then:
Any method you decide suitable maybe used to calculate an average cost provided an explanation of the method is provided.
Clarification requested 1:
Please can you confirm the date range for you request? 2020-2025?
Please can you specify what location/area your request relates to?
In relation to Request 2 - Is this only for criminal damage prosecution and all other Departments?
In relation to Request 3 - Is this again for Criminal Damage prosecutions only in Ards and North Down?
In relation to Request 4 - Again is this for Criminal Damage prosecutions only in Ards and North Down?
Clarification received 1:
Financial year: 2024-2025
Area: Ards and North Down
Clarification requested 2:
In relation to Request 2 - Is this only for criminal damage prosecution and all other Departments?
In relation to Request 3 -Is this again for Criminal Damage prosecutions only in Ards and North Down?
In relation to Request 4 - Again is this for Criminal Damage prosecutions only in Ards and North Down?
Clarification received 2:
All my requests apply to Newtownards Police in relation to offences in the Ards and North Down Area
Answer
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) does not hold information in relation to your requests.
Enquiries made in relation to your request failed to locate any records or documents relevant to your request based on the information you have provided.
The 'number of manhours' is not captured. Only data for attendance times for the initial attendance to an incident would be available, Once an investigation progresses, NICHE is used to capture updates but does not track or record time taken to complete the likes of statements, interviews etc.
Additionally, every case will be different and therefore the 'costs' would be different. We also do not hold budgets down to a local station level, i.e. Newtownards.
Accordingly, we have determined that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does not hold the information to which you seek access.